On the first day of 2009, the Department of Culture Affairs (DOCA) organized a group Chinese calligraphy session at the Central Culture Park. The participants successfully broke the Guinness World Record for mass calligraphy writing.
At the beginning of the ceremony, President Ma Ying-jeou, along with fifteen political and cultural dignitaries, each wrote a single Chinese character on the stage; all the characters combine to form a 16-word couplet spelling out “Genesis of strokes shed grace on the people; the Chinese character culture spreads over the world”.
For the main event, participants followed the rules for writing proper Chinese calligraphy – from preparing the ink to writing with their ink brushes on the provided paper. Each wrote one Chinese character representing his or her New Year’s wish and resolution; both President Ma and Taipei Mayor Hua Lung-bin wrote the character ”An” to express their hope for stability, safety, and peace.
Witnessed by an attorney, 12,902 participants picked up their ink brushes simultaneously at 1:32 p.m., setting a new record for the world’s largest calligraphy lesson. Among the participants, Chen Yeh Tsai-mei, a 98-year-old senior citizen, attracted much attention; despite being illiterate, the venerable elder drew a circle on her paper, representing the start of a new year and extending her well wishes to all.
The mass calligraphy session is a part of the fifth Chinese Character Festival organized by the City. DOCA’s Commissioner Lee Yong-ping remarked that advances in computer technology have made handwriting skills irrelevant. It is quite unusual to find so many people practicing calligraphy at the same time, making the event even more spectacular and touching, according to Lee.
At the beginning of the ceremony, President Ma Ying-jeou, along with fifteen political and cultural dignitaries, each wrote a single Chinese character on the stage; all the characters combine to form a 16-word couplet spelling out “Genesis of strokes shed grace on the people; the Chinese character culture spreads over the world”.
For the main event, participants followed the rules for writing proper Chinese calligraphy – from preparing the ink to writing with their ink brushes on the provided paper. Each wrote one Chinese character representing his or her New Year’s wish and resolution; both President Ma and Taipei Mayor Hua Lung-bin wrote the character ”An” to express their hope for stability, safety, and peace.
Witnessed by an attorney, 12,902 participants picked up their ink brushes simultaneously at 1:32 p.m., setting a new record for the world’s largest calligraphy lesson. Among the participants, Chen Yeh Tsai-mei, a 98-year-old senior citizen, attracted much attention; despite being illiterate, the venerable elder drew a circle on her paper, representing the start of a new year and extending her well wishes to all.
The mass calligraphy session is a part of the fifth Chinese Character Festival organized by the City. DOCA’s Commissioner Lee Yong-ping remarked that advances in computer technology have made handwriting skills irrelevant. It is quite unusual to find so many people practicing calligraphy at the same time, making the event even more spectacular and touching, according to Lee.
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